Preston Murray, Jeff Parker and Danny Kwock, Triumphant.

Murray, Parker and Kwock were the stars of Echo Beach, transforming it to an obscure part of Newport Beach to the hottest surf spot in the West Coast. (A photo published of Kwock dominating a wave on his polka-dotted board in a national surfing magazine caused a sensation.) "Echo Beach was kind of like a summer," remembers Murray. "It started with June gloom, then the sky cleared, the sun came out, and it was hot and firing for July and August. And then that day came in September when the wind had a certain chill, and we knew summer was coming to an end."